Research Topic - Language Barriers at Hospital

Running head: RESEARCH TOPIC 2
Language barriers at hospital
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1RESEARCH TOPIC 2
Introduction
I am an enrolled nurse is currently working at a public hospital. It has often been found
that quite a large number of patients who do not have English proficiency are admitted to the
hospital, and majority of my colleagues encounter difficulties while communicating with those
patients. With the aim of enhancing communication between them, I have been asked by the
nurse manager to conduct a research and identify different strategies that can eliminate or reduce
language barriers at workplace, following which I am expected to disseminate the information to
my colleagues about the findings. The two related areas to communication barrier that I have
considered relevant to this topic include elimination of communication barriers and hiring of
professional medical interpreter services at hospital.
Planning research activity
Rationale behind selection of the topic
According to the Enrolled Nurses Standards of Practice proposed by the Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) (2016) all nursing professionals are expected to interpret
relevant information from a plethora of sources, with the aim of contributing to appropriate care
planning. According to NMBA registered nurse standards of practice (2016) nurses must
demonstrate competence in effectively communicating with the patients, while being respectful
towards their culture values, beliefs, and dignity (standard 2.2). Moreover, they must also act as
patient advocates in a manner that respects their autonomy (standard 2.5). The Code of Ethics for
Nurses in Australia makes it mandatory for nurses to value diversity of their clients, while
responding and acknowledging to each of their needs and preferences (NMBA 2019). Often it
has been found that patients, who have restricted English proficiency, encounter substantial

2RESEARCH TOPIC 2
language barriers that prevent them from completely participating in care planning, and hinders
patient-provider communication (Tassavor and Chen 2019). Meaningful interaction between
healthcare providers and patients is the core of a significant clinical encounter. Understanding
the efficacy of interpreter services for eliminating language barriers at hospitals will be helpful in
bringing about the change in practice, and will allowed enhancement of quality of care.
Research question
 Does the hiring of interpreter service improve communication between patients and
providers?
Research objectives
 To determine the efficacy of medical interpreter services in eliminating language barriers
at hospital
Specific (S) Exploring effects of medical interpreter services
Measurable (M) Identification of efficacy of medical interpreter services will
help in significant reduction of language barriers
Achievable (A) The identification will be done through narrative review of
literature under by selection of relevant and authentic articles
Reliable (R) Evidence-based practice approach is selected that is reliable in
nursing profession
Time (I) 1 week
Choice of another discipline connected to this research activity

3RESEARCH TOPIC 2
One discipline that will be associated to the research activity is the study of the
effectiveness of medical interpreting services for the elimination of communication barriers at
hospital. This discipline has been selected because immigrant patients generally face challenges
in communication, compared to native patients. In recent times several hospitals have focused on
hiring medical interpreters who are entitled with the responsibility of interpreting and translating
medical information to clients who do not speak English language (Benjamin et al. 2016). These
interpreters ensure complete understanding of the clinical information shared between doctors,
medical staff, nurses, and patients. Therefore, exploring the efficacy of hiring medical
interpreters at hospitals will facilitate establishment of evidence-based practice guidelines, and
will also promote change management at the hospital.
Name of source
Two sources that would be used for search of articles would include:
1. CINAHL
2. PubMed
Gathering information associated to research
Methods of Gathering information
Two strategies of collecting relevant information that I considered appropriate for this
study are narrative review and conducting focus groups with open ended questions. The focus
groups will be conducted amid senior nurses who have several years of experience of delivering
care to patients belonging to diverse backgrounds.

4RESEARCH TOPIC 2
In this assignment I have selected narrative review as the most relevant method of
collecting information. This procedure will increase the scope of evidence based practice by
facilitating selection of articles based on their methodological accuracy and reliability of
findings.
Gathering information through systematic review of literature
Data collection was performed in the format of a literature search strategy. Search terms
pertinent to the scope of the research aims and objectives were identified and entered in the
databases for extracting relevant pieces of scholarly evidences.
Keywords Keyword Keyword Keyword
Keyword 1 Hospital
Boolean AND
Keyword 2 Medical
interpreter
OR Professional
interpreter
OR Professional
translator
Boolean AND
Keyword 3 Language
barriers
OR Communication
barriers
Boolean AND
Keyword 4 Enhanced
health
OR Improved care

5RESEARCH TOPIC 2
outcomes
This was followed by data evaluation based on the pre-formulated inclusion and
exclusion criteria, following which methodological quality of the articles were evaluated by
using the JBI tool (Joanna Briggs Institute 2013).
Factors Inclusion Criteria Exclusion Criteria
Years 2009 to 2019 Articles published before 2009
Type of Articles Peer-reviewed Non peer reviewed
Language English Language other than English
Types of articles Primary and secondary Grey literatures and websites
The search of the literary articles in the electronic database helped in highlighting four
articles that are included in the review.